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"Sammy McIlroy's magical goal of exciting quality made it clear that the days of soccer craftsman in the Potteries are about to be reborn," cooed long-serving Stoke correspondent Peter Hewitt in the following day's Sentinel.

"The finest goal I can recall seeing from a Stoke player for years left his proud new boss Barker in no doubt that the record £350,000 buy is going to be a golden investment.

"McIlroy, despite shrugging off the last traces of flu, picked up the ball just past the halfway line then raced elegantly and confidently past three defenders before clipping the ball home to clinch the game."

That strike was Stoke's second in a 2-0 victory over their old boss Alan Durban, with Brendan O'Callaghan having converted a Lee Chapman cross for the first.